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Opinion Contributor

'Obamacare' ends don't justify means

The administration will say or do whatever it must to keep the new law alive, the author writes. | AP Photo

By COLIN HANNA | 8/6/12 4:26 AM EDT

A thread of deception runs through the entire “Obamacare” experience. Back in 2008, candidate Barack Obama campaigned against the individual mandate and promised to put the legislative negotiations on C-SPAN. The president and his allies, however, have moved from position to position — caring little for the truth and interested only in the end game.

The bill became law only through a deceptive, and now dishonored, pledge that no funds available through the new law would be used to pay for abortions. Now, however, the Department of Health and Human Services is requiring that the health insurance plans for Catholic hospitals and organizations make abortion and sterilization procedures available as part of any coverage package they offer, in violation of these institutions’ religious conscience and the First Amendment — in addition to violating the pledge.

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It’s been demonstrated that the president’s promise that people who liked the health insurance they had could keep it was just so much snake oil. Thousands of Americans have already lost their insurance in the months since “Obamacare” became law. Even more are expected to lose it, since large employers are likely to dump their workplace-based plans in favor of having employees enroll in the state-based exchanges created under the new law — whether or not individual states choose to bring them on line.

The Supreme Court ruling that the individual mandate is a tax increases the likelihood that individuals will choose to pay it rather than buy insurance. After all, paying taxes is “patriotic,” according to Vice President Joe Biden, while violating a mandate would be intentionally breaking the law.

Implementation has also been questionable. Many waivers were passed out to labor unions and other supporters of “Obamacare” just in the first few months. And we’re still awaiting the final report on how the administration may have pressured the insurance companies to get on board.

The administration’s position on whether the penalties assessed is or is not a tax changes with the wind. Following the Supreme Court’s determination that it had to be a tax to meet the constitutional test, there was a brief acknowledgment that it was. But some senior officials continue to argue that it’s not — blurring the lines and keeping everyone in a state of confusion.

Readers' Comments (28)

You have moved the needle because you believe that health reform is abortion-adjacent.

This statement is false: "Now, however, the Department of Health and Human Services is requiring that the health insurance plans for Catholic hospitals and organizations make abortion and sterilization procedures available as part of any coverage package they offer, in violation of these institutions’ religious conscience and the First Amendment — in addition to violating the pledge."

If a woman chooses to have children, these services are paid for as part of her insurance. If she chooses to buy insurance to end unwanted pregnancy, she pays for it herself.

You're inflaming rumors when you should be embracing facts. ACA reform drives quality up, costs out and waste out. The best hedge against higher health care costs is a healthier population. Ten percent of us spend 80% of all health care costs and reform lowers those costs with preventative treatment that keeps these citizens healthier and more productive. Linear thinking does not work in regard to health policy. You're guilty of sloppy thinking and dumb writing to manipulate low-context voters. You're outed.

The main new activity of reform is to measure everything so it can finally be managed. You must work for an insurance company or something. You should disclose your financial interests, here. Good doctors and hospitals will make more. Bad doctors and hospitals will make less. If quality = patient outcomes divided by money....we'll finally be able to tell good doctors from bad.

You can already see results at www.HealthCare.gov.

State exchanges are an awesome tool to restore some balance to individual and small-business policies....which are much more expensive than comparable large market policies. In California, exchanges will be more like the Apple store than what you describe.

As for Medicaid expansion...every state that expands will see a 1 to 2% point economic bump because of stimulus effects. States that don't take the deal are dumb, and I think "nay" legislators will be voted out the next election time. Let's see....higher public health, better economy, restored productivity, hospitals that could have converted unreimbursed care into reimbursed care? Right. Hold strong you crazies.

Reform is not a takeover unless the weapons of it are a calculator and an Internet connection.

Reform finally makes quality measurable. And you want it to stop? That makes you a dick.

Be very afraid of an altruistic government: old wisdom handed down as, "I'm from the government and I'm here to help" always means, "We're smarter than you, so... do as we say or we'll force it on you".

That arrogance alone should be enough to throw this generation of bums out of office, but it's made worse because of the Obama administration's track record of incredible incompetence when choosing winners and losers. From Solyndra, to crony capitalism, to saving the UAW as a cash cow, they're just bad judges of what works and self-serving to boot.

Will health care get the same biased meddling as our energy policy? ... Pharmaceutical companies are evil. We need to stop this dependance on profiteering drug companies... You know, bloodletting was never given a fair clinical study: ... trains, windmills, and leaches.

And the bureaucracies... Agencies will be crated by the hundreds, growing government, feather-bedded Democrats, forever employed, as useless as firemen on diesel trains.

Obama has ordered Catholics to fund abortions and go straight to Hell. He is a liar and a fraud. This is just one of the reasons everybody knows he remains a Muslim in his heart. They are allowed to lie to infidels like Catholics to achieve their ends.

You are a liar. Catholics are not forced to buy birth control. Catholic churches are exempt. My friend works for the Bishop and their insurance coverage is exempt.

However Catholic hospitals are not churches. Benefits are considered compensation and employees can buy what they want. Guess what when the Catholic church starts running businesses it means they are giving employees money (paychecks) and they can go buy beer, drugs, hookers, and anything else they want. So maybe if the church doesn't like what employees do with their money they should get out of business and back to running churches.

Keep the Catholic church out of politics. They need to follow the law like everyone else unless of course it is molesting little boys. That is okay because it is done in the church and they have their own laws.

Guess what stupids. The debt is due to 10 years of war medicare and medicaid. Medicare takes care of our seniors and the majority of medicaid receipents are the elderly and single women with children. Want to cut welfare, the government should give out free birth control on every corner. Until we get rid of unwannted pregnancys we will never reduce welfare.

" .. Last summer, Harvard researchers (Socialists) published a headline-grabbing paper that concluded that illness or medical bills contributed to 62 percent of bankruptcies in 2007, up from about half in 2001. More than three-fourths of those with medical debt had health insurance.

"But the researchers’ methodology has been criticized as defining medical bankruptcy too broadly and for the ideological leanings of its authors, some of whom are outspoken advocates for nationalized health care .."

Employers are wise to stop paying for employee health care and limit their risks. A company should pay an employee wages and the employee should buy his own health insurance as he sees fit. Employee wages are equally tax deductible to a company as health costs. Everyone now gets a tax credit for buying health insurance under the Supreme court ruling.

Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.C. S. Lewis

So maybe if the church doesn't like what employees do with their money they should get out of business and back to running churches.

Moron (and I call you that in all kindness), one out of every six hospital patient is treated in a Catholic hospital. There are over 2 million kids k -12 in Catholic schools. Are your Gubmint hospitals and schools going to pick up this slack when they close?

Catholics are going to refuse to comply with the HHS mandate. Let's see you jack-booted, left-wing losers force us to comply with these regulations. Make our day, moron.

What's sickening about the right is if Obama would have never done the ACA the GOP would have done nothing reggardless. They r monday morning quarterback haters. In history they have never done any heavy lifting for the average american. Then when he comes up with something (something that was a GOP, Heritage foundation, Willard Romney idea) now its socialist and u have all the loony right wing op-ed pages on it. The GOP have never put the needs of the people first. U give me 1 instance when they did. Please. Something? U can't. They r the party of right lonn ball extremists but its always some abortion crap or the right to life when the living r suffering. People r out of work and its hard times and they do nothing but want to beat this president more than do the peoples work. U right wingers can call him socialist , marxist but u have no proof. U can come up with a proposal and i can refute it by showing u that the GOP did the same thing. U have some pie in the sky straw man that u have of him in which the facts dont bear out. They r taking voters rights away which is seriously unamerican. People died for that right. They r going way overboard with these abortion, personhood bills. Do those create jobs? Where is their healthcare plan? They have none. They just ***** and moan but do nothing. They r just a bunch of right wing extremists with no purpose but to try and beat this president. U extreme right wingers need to take off the tin foil hats! U r drowing out reality

Republicans are compulsive liars and with the ACA/Obamacare their relentless lies and deception has known no bounds. Again, no federal funds go to fund abortions. The GOP managed to block a national healthcare program in America for 75 years out of greed. They opposed the ACA because it cuts into the excessive profits and abuses of the insurance companies and healthcare providers who post the highest profits and American doctors remain the highest paid in the world though America ranks around 25th or lower in healthcare.

Notice that the GOP never mention that healthcare costs DOUBLED under Bush-Cheney and that the bankruptcy laws were changed to benefit not consumers but banks and credit card companies-- many of which were later bailed out. The GOP as usual lied and claimed that cardholders were abusing their credit when, in fact, when the law was passed most bankruptcies were due to overwhelming medical and hospital bills.

Notice that the GOP repeatedly try to kill the ACA, to block preventive healthcare that covers a variety of services not just birth control. Also notice that the so-called "pro-life" Republicans are the ones who have given us endless death, misery, and suffering from sucessive senseless wars in which the main beneficiaries have been the big weapons makers and defense contractors like the 435+ GOP-appoved war profiteers in Iraq and Afghanistan which posted over $60 billion in waste, fraud, and abuse while failing in their nation-building and leaving behind lifetimes of unpaid-for war bills and costly VA heathcare projected cost $5 trillion.

Notice that Republicans are not altusitic, do not care about the poor, readily cut funding for food stamps, Headstart, etc., tried to privatize Social Security now Medicare while keeping their wasteful, massive military industrial machine going. Recall that the National Debt was less than $800 billion through Carter, Reagabn tripled it mainly with tax breaks and military and government spending; GHW Bush added to it and GW Bush more than doubled it yet again. The GOP are pro-polluters and anti-envirionment, pro-rich, anti-poor, anti-worker, and anti-American. The Republican Party has historically NEVER represented the working class and today's right-wing GOP extremists have never been worse. Judgment Day cannot come soon enough for them when their will be no more lies and cover-ups. No amount of GOP or burdening wealth will save them.